The Animal Inside (The Both Of Us)
by CommanderLeska
Summary: All Clarke and Lexa have to do is walk to Camp Jaha. Should be easy. But one of them's still trying to figure out her feelings, and the other? The other's a reaper. (Implied Clexa)


It had all gone downhill so fast.

They were walking next to a lake, Lexa telling her about their beliefs, their reincarnations. The Commander spirit moving on from one body to the other. So maybe Clarke had tried not to listen when Lexa said she had already passed the average age the past Commanders lived to, but she didn't want to think about that, the idea of Lexa dying made her feel emotions she hadn't felt since Finn died. She didn't want him to die, and she didn't want to think about Lexa ever dying. Lexa was in the middle of assuring Clarke that Anya's spirit will find a child to live in, and will one day be one of the Tridgedakru's greatest warriors, when a dart stuck into her arm, and she yelped.

Lexa sprang into action, sword drawn, one arm keeping Clarke steady as she felt her eyelids getting heavier. When no more sound came from the trees, Lexa laid Clarke down on the ground by the lake, still ready to face whatever was out there. Mountain Men. Has to be. Lexa stood in front of Clarke, eyes watching the treeline like an eagle.

The last thing Clarke saw before her eyes closed was a dart sliding into Lexa's neck.

* * *

Clarke jolted awake, wrists cracking from disuse and the straps around them. She was sitting. It was dark. Her hands and feet were tied. She seemed alone. Lexa was…

"Lexa?" Clarke whispered into the darkness. "Lexa, are you here?"

"The Commander is not here right now, Clarke Griffin." Cage stepped out of the shadows and into the light in front of Clarke, smiling widely. He has Lexa. Cage circled Clarke, his eyes never leaving her head. "She's no longer anyone's concern."

"What are you going to do to me?" Clarke asked, voice unfaltering as she spoke into the darkness as Cage once again circled behind her. She could almost feel the sick man's smirk even from behind.

"Come on Clarke. You know too much about what we do." Cage moved round in front of her, kneeling down. "I'm going to have your savage kill you." He laughed as he stood, flashing her an ear splitting grin, walking towards the darkness, and Clarke flinched as the light flooded in from the hallway as a door opened, and closed quickly behind Cage.

 _Lexa._

* * *

4 hours, by Clarke's approximation, and she'd managed to free her left hand, and was working on her right hand when the door slid open and a guard walked in, looking at her face, then her hands, and back to her face.

"Hey!" He stepped forward to grab at Clarke, who countered his move and punched him in the jaw, knocking the man back, gun skittering across the floor, into the darkness. She wrenched her right hand free, jumping out of the chair and kicked the guard, knocking him down for the count. You escaped here once before, Clarke, second time's a doddle.

Clarke skidded round a corner, coming to a hallway with a row of black doors with no windows, and she started to head down the hallway when a shout came from behind her.

"Stop right there or I shoot!" A guard was stood behind her as she turned, gun held high and trigger finger at the ready. A different guard, not the one from the cell. Clarke thought about running, but the hallway was straight, and any shot he let off would find it's target. Her. She held her hands up and the guard began walking towards her, gun still drawn and aimed at her head.

"On your knees!" He yelled, aim following as Clarke knelt down in front of him, hands still up. He clicked the safety off and Clarke gulped. He was going to kill her. Right here in the hallway. The leader of the Sky People. Slaughtered. In a hallway.

She felt the muzzle of the gun rest on her forehead, and a single bit of sweat dripped down the side of her face. She could do one of 3 things. Run, and get shot. Stay, and get shot. Fight, and probably get shot.

Before she could think over her 3 options again, the door to her right slammed open and a body flew out, pushing the unsuspecting guard sideways, into the wall. The body was quite clearly alive, and grabbed the guard when he rebounded off the wall, pushing him easily down to the floor, gun sliding over to Clarke. She bent down quickly and grabbed it, not sure of this person, who was clearly a reaper, was going to attack her next.

When she stood up, she watched as the guard's yelling was cut short as the reaper tore into his neck, ripping his windpipe clean out of his throat. Clarke gripped the gun tighter, aiming it just in case as she backed up, away from the crazed reaper.

Her boot tapped a piece of metal, thrown free when the cell door was thrown open. She readjusted her grip on the gun as the reaper tensed over the guard's body, grunting. Clarke pulled the sights up to eye level, checking to make sure the safety was off. The reaper snarled and turned, and Clarke almost dropped the gun.

Lexa, mouth covered in blood, bloodshot eyes, snarling at her from the floor.

Cage turned her into a reaper.

* * *

"Lexa..." Clarke gently approached the brunette commander, who snarled more, rising from the guard's body slowly, eyeing Clarke.

"It's me. Clarke." Clarke held out her hand towards Lexa, gun still gripped in the other one, ready to let off a warning shot if the commander lunged for her. Instead, the reaper backed away slowly, eyes flicking down to the gun, then to the guard she killed. And that gave Clarke an idea.

"Lexa, I'm going to get us out of here." Clarke's eyes darted off Lexa for a second, to the wall, where the metal leash the Mountain Men used to transport reapers was hanging, and Lexa followed her eyes, growling. Clarke pulled her hand back and aimed the gun and Lexa, edging her backwards as she made her way forwards, towards the leash.

The second her hand closed around the pole, Lexa sprung forward, and Clarke bought the gun up to protect herself, smacking it right into Lexa's jaw. This didn't phase the reaper, who grabbed the gun and pulled it towards her, dragging Clarke with it, who fell hard next to the body of the guard. The end of the leash can hit Lexa on the head, briefly disorientating the commander, and Clarke reached for the gun, until a boot stood on it, and she followed the boot to a leg, to a blood soaked torso, to a face. An angry, pissed off face. Blood dripped out of the corner of Lexa's mouth, and Clarke shifted back, her hand hitting something round and metal. Lexa lunged down, and Clarke shoved her hand up. Ignoring the yelp and the continuing sound of pain, Clarke continued to taze Lexa, until their positions were switched. Lexa writhed on the floor, and Clarke stood above her.

"I'm sorry." Clarke whispered as she turned the commander onto her stomach, linking her hands behind her back with the metal leash. She glanced back in the direction she ran from. The guard looked small enough. She could pass as a guard. Walk Lexa right out of the Mountain without a second glance. And back to her mother.

* * *

Breathing heavily in the hazmat suit she was currently in, Clarke stepped forward with the now very awake and very angry reaper practically tied to her, only a metal rod keeping Lexa away from her, as she stepped out of the airlock and back into Tridgedakru territory. Now she just had to get far enough away from the Mountain with Lexa in tow and she could rid herself of the hazmat suit. Now if only the commander would stop trying to pull away from her, it would be great.

"Lexa." Clarke growled, and the reaper stopped pulling on the rod, and Clarke could swear she saw some of Lexa in those bloodshot eyes. Maybe she could get through to her after all.

* * *

Some distance from the Mountain, and Clarke noticed the sun starting to go down over the horizon. She spotted a small nook in the rocks by a tree and pulled on the rod, pulling Lexa with her. Lexa followed without much fuss in the last few hours after Clarke had yelled her name for the 4th time after Lexa shifted her weight and Clarke almost fell into another lake.

Clarke shook her bag off, pulling a length of rope out of it, and looking at Lexa, who tilted her head, eyeing the rope cautiously. Clarke backed Lexa up to the tree close to the nook, pushing her into a sitting position, and held her there with the rod as she threw the rope around the tree, quickly linking it together and pulling it tight, but not too tight, around the waist of the commander, who growled, and Clarke would swear down that the great commander turned reaper huffed in anger. When Clarke had the commander tied up to the tree, she tied the rope round her wrists and secured it off on the tree, she released her hands from the metal leash, and Lexa looked up in what Clarke could swear was thanks. But she quickly shook her head and headed back to the nook, taking off the hazmat helmet. The hazmat suit was warm, and could serve as sleeping equipment. Clarke shot one last look over at Lexa, who was studying the ropes, and closed her eyes.

* * *

Clarke coughed awake, swatting at a fly that landed on her nose, taking a deep breath. And then she wished she hadn't. Blood. Decaying flesh. Raw flesh. She wiped at the sleep in her eyes and blinked rapidly, looking towards the tree. She shot up as she noticed the loose rope and no Lexa. She scrambled to her feet and looked around, catching sight of what was making the horrible smell.

A dead boar.

Lying next to her pack on the ground, was a dead boar, throat ripped out by what looked like a hand, rather than a mouth. She turned away from the boar and that's when she noticed Lexa. Clarke gave a tiny squeak as she stepped back, unsure if she was going to be okay with Lexa stood so close to her. She gulped, and the reaper looked from her eyes, down to the dead boar, and back into Clarke's eyes. _Did she… Did she get me this?_

Clarke glanced down at the boar and back up at Lexa, raised eyebrow,

"Thank you, but I don't want to eat that." Clarke pointed at the boar, and Lexa took a threatening step forwards, snarling. "I mean I do! Just, not raw. Cooked. But we need to keep moving." Lexa tilted her head, snarl dropping from her face as she studied Clarke up close, and Clarke held her ground, looking up into Lexa's eyes. Her bloodshot eyes.

Finally, Lexa took a step back, and watched as Clarke packed up the rope from the tree and the hazmat helmet. She stripped down to the guard uniform, and packed up the hazmat suit fully. She bent down to pick up the metal leash, and heard Lexa growl from behind her. She stood up without it, turning on her heel to look at the reaper behind her.

"I'm going to place a lot of trust in you, Lexa. If you attack me, I will taze you." Clarke narrowed her eyes until the commander gave her a grunt in agreement, and Clarke and Lexa set off once again, this time Lexa walking freely beside her. And somehow, despite the fact her companion was a reaper, she felt safe. And that scared her more than the threat of the Mountain did. How safe she felt next to Lexa.

* * *

The next time they had to stop was because Lexa yanked on the back of Clarke's stolen uniform, pulling her down into the undergrowth. Clarke's hand shot for her her taser, but before she could wrap a hand around it, a howl sounded from very close by, and Lexa snarled back, and pointed into a small clearing, where a lone wolf padded into view. Clarke gasped as the wolf looked over to them, and Clarke remembered the two headed deer. But this was different. This two headed, two tailed wolf was looking right at them, and Clarke barely had time to reach for her gun before Lexa lept up and tackled the wolf to the ground.

Clarke stood up fully now, pistol drawn and aimed, but safety on. She couldn't get a clear shot on the wolf without hitting Lexa, who was busy pushing her thumbs into two of the 3 eyes the wolf had, tumbling with the wolf as it howled in pain and rolled to the side, snapping both of it's jaw's at Lexa, one canine catching the reaper's arm, drawing blood. Lexa growled and snapped the wolf's head up, ready to bite back, when Clarke stirred into motion, grabbing Lexa by the collar and dragging her off the wolf, burying 3 bullets into it before turning to Lexa, who was using a leaf to wipe the blood off her arm.

"Do you not know anything about radiation?! Do not eat irradiated animals! You will die!" Clarke pushed the reaper by the shoulder, and Lexa snarled at her briefly before looking down, and huffing. _It's like dealing with a child!_

"Come on. We can make it most of the way to Camp Jaha before the sun sets again." Clarke grabbed Lexa by the arm and guided her in the right direction, keeping Mount Weather behind them.

"And maybe tonight, you _stay_ tied up, yeah?"

* * *

Clarke slowly cracked her eyes open, adjusting to the light of day. When her eyes opened fully, she found herself face to face with Lexa, whose nose was about 2 centimetres from her own nose. She jerked back quickly, startling the already awake commander, who sat up on high alert, while Clarke found her balance on the leafy ground, hands scrambling around her to keep her upright. She tried to settle her heartbeat and clear the fog of sleep in the few seconds since waking up to where she was now, with the reaper in front of her tilting her head questioningly. Okay, so she couldn't be mad at Lexa, but she sure as hell had to sort out some boundaries.

"Okay, when I said stay tied up maybe I was being a bit naive, thinking you of all people would stay, but personal space!" Clarke stepped forward and the commander stepped back. "I just want to get you help, Lexa. And not to die of a heart attack before we get to Camp Jaha." Clarke sighed, and bent down to pick up some of the stuff she took out of the bag, as well as stripping off the hazmat suit again. When she turned round, Lexa held the rope out to her, and huffed. _Is she apologising?_

Clarke took the rope in hand, shoving it into the backpack and lifting it over her shoulder. She checked to make sure she had her pistol and taser on her belt, before nodding in a direction, and Lexa stepped forward, following without a sound.

* * *

"You kissed me." Clarke sat opposite the commander, who was holding a sharpened stick with a piece of rabbit on it, that she had caught for Clarke. And of course, Clarke had insisted they cook the rabbit before eating. She wasn't getting the commander poisoned on her watch. She watched as Lexa looked up from the fire and into her eyes. She tilted her head, the sign that she was listening.

"You kissed me, and I still don't know exactly what that meant." Clarke continued, despite the silence coming from across the fire. She didn't need a reply, she needed someone to listen. "And I told you I wasn't ready, and that's still true, but I don't know why I feel these things toward you. You're the leader of the grounders." The word grounders elicited a tiny snarl from the reaper, and Clarke powered on. "I think I'm starting to feel the same way.

"You've already proven yourselves to us, I mean, we fell from the sky and took over your land. That's practically an alien invasion, yet you didn't order all of our deaths. And so maybe it took you a while to actually show yourself, you could have killed us all for what we did. But you didn't. You only wanted Finn. And Raven, but you let her go as soon as you found out it was Gustus." Another growl, and Lexa biting into the cooked rabbit. Clarke removed her rabbit from the fire, finally rising her eyes to look Lexa in the eyes.

"I think, given time, I could fall for you." And Clarke would swear until the day she died she saw the reaper smile.

* * *

The next morning, Clarke found Lexa sitting next to the tree she tied her to, ropes undone, but still sat there, watching over Clarke.

"Do you ever sleep?" Clarke asked, wiping sleep out of her eyes as she yawned. The usual silence that followed didn't surprise her at all, sometimes she found it comforting. To know she was there but to not be pressured into conversation. It was different than when she was leading her people. Someone always wanted to talk to her, get her opinion, make idle conversation.

"We should be able to get to Camp Jaha today." Clarke packed up the camp with Lexa, who handed her the rope again, and Clarke smiled at her. She packed the taser into the bag.

* * *

It was hard to move in the hazmat suit, but it was raining, and Clarke wasn't going to get unnecessarily soaked if she had a choice about it. She'd offered Lexa the helmet, but the reaper just snarled at her in anger, and continued on her way. Clarke had shoved the helmet on her head and followed Lexa. Strangely it didn't even occur to her that she might get recognised as a Mountain Man. Even worse that she was walking with a reaper.

They broke through the clearing of Camp Jaha just as the rain was easing off, and Clarke smiled. Home. All she wanted to do was get Lexa back to Lexa, and sleep in a real bed. She grabbed the reaper by the arm and led her towards Camp Jaha. And suddenly it hit her.

"Mountain Men!" The shout came about a second before the bullet, tearing into the ground by her feet, and she fell backwards, dragging Lexa down with her, who was snarling at the Sky People, trying to break free of Clarke's grip. More shots came and Clarke was forced to let go of Lexa as she scrambled for cover, calling after the commander, who was standing in the clearing.

"Bring them in alive!" Clarke heard her mother shout as the creak of the gates sounded over Lexa's snarling by her side. Clarke glanced at Lexa, whose face was covered in blood from the last attack they had on them in the woods, where a Mountain Man questioned Clarke's ID, and Lexa ripped into him to protect Clarke. But the blood covering Lexa wasn't the worst thought that came to mind. They wouldn't recognise her as the commander. She was wearing different grounder wear, more in the style of reapers, and her hair wasn't tied back in her usual braids. And Clarke. Clarke was wearing a full hazmat suit. A Mountain Man hazmat suit.

The snarls of the commander bought her back from the depths of her mind and her vision snapped over to Lexa, who was fighting off guards with tasers, who kept taking swipes at her. At least 2 were down on the floor holding their jaws, and one was down holding his groin, moaning in pain. _Still some Lexa in there._

"Get up!" She snapped her head away from where a taser had connected with Lexa's skull, and faced the barrel of a very real gun. She held her hands up and stood slowly, wishing there wasn't any rain on her helmet, obscuring her face to anyone looking at her. 2 guards took her bag off her and started going through it, and she was grabbed by another 2, and one behind her with a gun aimed at her back, as she was lead over to the main gates, where Kane and Abby stood, waiting. Behind her she could hear Lexa still fighting, and could hear the various shouts of confirmation that she was tied up, and the sounds of dragging. And Lexa still fighting back. She glanced over her shoulder to find 3 guards tugging on a rope with Lexa tied to the other side of it, pulling the 3 of them with incredible strength. Eventually, they had both of them in front of the Chancellors, and kicked the reaper down to her knees.

"What business do you have here? Planning to set a reaper free in our base?" Abby spat out, glancing between the two. "We have guns, what do you think one reaper would have done. They're easy to kill."

"No!" Clarke lurched forward as a guard aimed his gun at Lexa, and Abby frowned. _Come on, mom._ Abby stepped forward, wiping the rain from the visor of the hazmat suit, and gasped. She quickly ripped the helmet off of Clarke's head and pulled her away from the guards and into a bone crushing hug.

"We had no idea where you were! Everyone was so worried. You disappeared after going to that savage's camp." Clarke watched with wide eyes as Lexa lurched forward on her knees at the word savage, and a guard went to smack her with the butt of his gun, but Clarke quickly deflected the guard, kneeling down in front of Lexa. "Clarke!" Abby reached for her daughter, but Clarke waved her off.

"It's okay. Calm down." Clarke put her hands on Lexa's shoulders and she watched the commander calm down. She started to pull the ropes off Lexa, but found herself pulled back by her mother.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Abby glanced between the blood coated reaper and her daughter.

"Freeing Lexa." Clarke pushed her mother's hand off her shoulder and went back to her task, pulling the reaper up to her feet when she was done. She turned to face Kane and Abby, and watched as both of them tried to get the shocked look off their faces. "If you're done here, I'd really like it if you could help her."

"Of… of course. Take her to the med bay." Abby stammered, pointing in the direction of the med bay, before turning to a guard. "Find Indra. Tell her the commander's here. Let them come here if they must, but no-one but Indra or Octavia passes these gates." Abby put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and led the two young leaders to the med bay, Lexa's snarls making the Sky People look away.

* * *

"I thought I lost you for a moment there, Lex." Clarke had her hand over Lexa's hand, the latter still asleep on the operating table. She picked up the sponge in the other hand and wiped more of the Mountain Men's blood off the commander's face. She looked so peaceful now, de-reapered. "You're going to be fine. We will take down the mountain soon. Together."

"Clarke! Indra wants to speak with you." Abby pushed open the door and watched her daughter stroke her thumb over the commander's hand. Clarke nodded to her and she left again, the door swinging shut behind her.

"Alright, I gotta go speak to your general. Wish me luck. I'll be right back" Clarke stood up, moving the bowl of bloody water away from the bed, and turned to leave the room.

"Ai hod yu in."

Clarke smiled to herself as she heard the commander's voice, just as she pushed the door open, leaving the room.

"Get some sleep, Lexa."


End file.
